Career Night For Cara McCormack Leads No.4 Drexel Past No. 5 Monmouth in Overtime 70-67
Ben Kane
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Washington D.C. (Mar. 14, 2025) Graduate guard Cara McCormack poured in a career-high 26 points as No. 4 Drexel edged No. 5 Monmouth, 70-67 in overtime, in the quarterfinals of the Credit Union 1 CAA Women’s Basketball Championship on Friday afternoon at CareFirst Arena.
The defending champion Dragons (17-12) advance to play No. 9 William & Mary in the semifinals at 2 p.m. on Saturday. The loss dropped the Hawks to 16-15.
McCormack hit 5-of-13 from 3-point range in surpassing her previous high of 23 points. Amaris Baker just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds and Deja Evans contributed 10 points, seven boards and four blocked shots.
For Monmouth, All-CAA guard Damaris Rodriguez scored a team-best 17 points, while Belle Kranbuhl posted a double-double with 13 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks. Ella Farrelly chipped in 13 points and nine caroms.
In a game that featured seven lead changes. McCormack’s trey from the right wing put Drexel up 57-55 with under a minute to play and she sank a pair of free throws with 12.5 seconds on the clock that made it 59-56. However, Monmouth executed a perfect inbounds play that resulted in a game-tying trey from Rachel Kuhl with 4.4 seconds left, forcing overtime.
The Hawks sprinted out to a 64-59 advantage in overtime following a Kranbuhl layup, but the Dragons went on an 8-2 run capped by a Chloe Hodges jumper in the lane that put Drexel ahead 67-66 with 38 seconds to play. The Dragons added a pair of McCormack free throws and one from Grace O’Neill to push the margin to three. Monmouth had a shot to tie at the buzzer but couldn’t connect.
Monmouth opened the game by hitting three straight shots from beyond the arc to jump out to a quick 9-3 advantage. Drexel battled back behind consecutive buckets from Evans to tie the contest at 11-11 after one quarter.
The Dragons connected on five straight field goal attempts midway through the second quarter and went on top 23-13 following a Baker jumper in the paint with 3:44 left in the period. However, the Hawks closed the half on a 10-0 run capped by a Rodriguez three at the buzzer that evened the game at 23-23.
Monmouth carried the momentum into the third quarter, opening the period on a 13-2 run that included five points apiece from Rodriguez and Farrelly. However, Drexel responded quickly as McCormack tallied 10 points, including a pair of treys, in a 14-3 run to tie the game at 39-39 with 2:52 to go in the quarter. The Hawks reeled off seven straight points, capped by a Kuhl three from the wing, to take 46-43 advantage into the final stanza.